Kimbal Musk made nearly $ 110 million by exercising Tesla Inc. stock options right before his brother, Elon, spent the weekend asking Twitter users whether he should sell a big chunk of his stake in the electric-vehicle company.
According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Kimbal Musk — who serves on Tesla’s board of directors — exercised his option Friday to buy 25,000 Tesla shares at $ 74.17 apiece, and immediately sold them in tranches ranging from $ 1,223 a share to $ 1,236 a share, making about $ 108.8 million.
Kimbal Musk still holds more than 511,000 Tesla shares, worth about $ 594 million, based on Monday’s closing price of $ 1,162.
Tesla shares TSLA, -4.84% sank nearly 5% Monday after CEO Elon Musk said he would “abide” by a Twitter poll he posted Saturday, asking whether he should sell 10% of his shares in the electric-vehicle company. Voters said “yes.”
Some noted that Elon Musk said in a September interview that he already planned on selling a large block of his stock options in the fourth quarter, and that selling now could save him billions of dollars in taxes, compared to if he sold them next year.
Tesla shares recently hit an all-time high of $ 1,243, and are up 65% year to date – mostly coming in the past three months. The stock is up an even more impressive 176% over the past year.